Catch up time

I realize it's a little late to start writing about my travels since I'm already three weeks in, but better late than never. We arrived in London for our month long seminar class on August 24th and we're here until classes start at Lancaster University in October. We're living in a small dorm-like complex on the corner of Manresa and King's Road, Chelsea, right in the West End. Our first full day was tour de force of London and its sights. We took a walking tour with City Walks of London that had us taking the Tube east towards Tower Hill, then a boat ride back west to Parliament, Big Ben and Westminster Abbey.
First impression of London, I couldn't be happier. The city is clean and the Tube is a really hassle free way to get around. We only get 50 pounds a week for food but luckily there is an Asda (British Wal-Mart) not too far from here. Despite the famous London rain most of our time here has been full of sun and warm weather. My room is tiny, probably half the size of my double back at Gettysburg but still supposed to function as a double. We have our own bathroom though, and a kitchen stocked with cookware.

Of course one of the first events on our list was a pub crawl which didn't turn out as we had planned. Dinner and drinks here happen much earlier than in America, so pubs close around 11 at the latest except on weekends. We managed to have a good time though, and through the weeks we've come up with some regular spots. King's Road is extremely expensive but just a block away from the Thames is Fulham Road with a ton of bars and good nightlife.
The river itself is only a bock away from where we live and is a good place to go jogging in the morning. Right across the bridge is Battersea park and in the mornings its empty.
We saw a show at the Royal Albert Hall of a symphony from BBC Proms. The tickets were only 5 pound for standing room only and it was easily worth it just to see the inside of the theatre.
We have a lot of time to ourselves to explore the city and do what we want so I've been to the Tower and the British Museum as well as a tour of the Tower Bridge, Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park, and Canary Wharf.

The Royal Albert Hall

The Tower of London was awesome. We spent close to four hours walking around and soaking it all in. Getting there ten minutes before it opened helped beat the lines and every cultural place here is either free or offers a large student discount. We met yeomans who made cracks about how women can't read maps, took pictures with a woman dressed as a 16th century queen and of course saw the dungeons. The little chapel located there is an interesting place, you don't realize it until you look closely at the signs but just being there you are standing over Thomas More, Anne Bolyn, Katherine Howard and Lady Jane Grey to name a few.
That night we went to Piccadilly Circus which was lit up and full of people. It was way too expensive and to be honest the club scene isn't really worth the high cost. As Americans we stick out a little bit, especially in a club. We've traveled to Brighton and Canterbury and saw a show at the Globe as well. They did "The Merry Wives of Windsor" and for being one of the lesser known plays it was really well done.

That's basically London so far in a nutshell. Our seminar class on global cities has been ok, a lot of repetitive information and sometimes it gets in the way of seeing the sights but with the school paying for shows, a football match and travel to certain sights, I can't complain. We just got back from Paris which I'll write about later and have booked our tickets to Amsterdam, Berlin and Prague, so there are more stories to come.